The former starting quarterback for the Cyclones said in an interview with the Register on Monday night that he asked for his release from Iowa State earlier in the day and plans to transfer. Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said he plans to honor Park's request. Park was entrenched as the starting quarterback until Iowa State announced he was taking an indefinite leave from the team on Oct. 6.

Iowa State quarterback Jacob Park has to hurry to get the ball away as Texas linebacker Malik Jefferson rushes him on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017, at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames.
Bryon Houlgrave/The Register

Iowa State Cyclones quarterback Jacob Park (10) jumps into the end zone to score a touchdown while being hit by Akron Zips linebacker Josh Ward (52) in the fourth quarter at InfoCision Stadium in Akron, Ohio.
David Dermer/USA TODAY Sports

Iowa State redshirt junior quarterback Jacob Park (10) is sacked by Iowa sophomore defensive end Anthony Nelson (98) during the first half of their football game at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, in Ames.
Brian Powers/The Register

Iowa State junior quarterback Jacob Park poses for a portrait during the Iowa State football team media day at Bergstrom Indoor Practice Facility on the Iowa State campus in Ames on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017.
Bryon Houlgrave/The Register

Iowa State redshirt junior quarterback Jacob Park (10), left, reacts after Iowa State redshirt junior quarterback Kyle Starcevich (16) proposed to his girlfriend of five years, Tori Monroe, after the ISU spring game on Saturday, April 8, 2017, in Ames.
Brian Powers/The Register

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"We wish Jacob the absolute best, and he's done a lot of great things, but if the situation is that he's looking for a new start, then that's the best situation for him," Campbell said.

In Park's first comments to the media since then, Park said the leave stemmed from problems off the field. He said the challenge of balancing school, football, fatherhood and living with the mother of his child became overwhelming. Park also said he failed a drug test because of marijuana usage and was facing a one-game suspension that was supposed to have been served in Iowa State's game against Oklahoma on Oct. 7.

Park said he talked to the program's coaching staff about his marijuana usage. The night before the suspension was supposed to be served, Iowa State announced Park had taken an indefinite leave from the team to "work through some personal health issues."

“It was not something that was very easy to deal with when you have so much high-pressure situations that you’re being put into, as I do,” Park said Monday. “And it’s a coping mechanism that I understand now is not acceptable and that I’m still working on this to this day.”

Park said he has one more class remaining next semester before he can graduate from Iowa State. He said he plans to complete that course before pursuing football elsewhere.

Park said he practiced one time during the Oklahoma week but hasn't since.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m no longer on the team,” Park said. “I haven’t been communicated to by anyone on the team. I haven’t talked to coach Campbell since the second week I was gone. (I’m) just kind of now taking my own steps to make sure my future’s OK."

"There’s been multiple people and sources put around Jacob to get healthy and get himself back on the football team," Campbell said. "Everybody’s been in constant communication on his health and his status."

Park, a redshirt junior, ended last season as Iowa State’s starting quarterback and entered the 2017 season as the starter and captain. He was the starter for the first four games, in which he completed 100 of 162 passes for 1,181 yards and nine touchdown passes.

A former blue-chip recruit, Park began his college career at Georgia. He transferred to Trident Technical College in South Carolina — a school that doesn’t have a football program. Park kept in shape by playing in a church league with friends. He later attended Northeast Oklahoma A&M, where he attended school and joined the football team but never played.

Park said speculation of Kempt, a fifth-year senior seeking a sixth season of eligibility, sparked his decision to ask out of his scholarship.

"They're not bringing me back," Park said. "I think that's pretty clear. When I heard that, (that) is when I realized I needed to find somewhere else to go."